ST×NLB Cross-References: Motorist’s pricey prerequisite

SINGAPORE – This week’s ST×NLB Crossword was constructed by Syaiful Iylia from the National Library Board, who is part of a team of 40 volunteers from both organisations.

Let’s say you want to get away from it all for a while. Maybe you’re a famous actress—someone like ZOE (18D) [Tay or Saldana, on screen]—and you’ve caught one too many STARES (22A) recently. 

If you’re a [Prominent politician partial to pink] as recognisable as Senior Minister LEE HSIEN LOONG (1A), you might occasionally yearn for something akin to the anonymity of life as a HEARTLANDER (3D), a term referring to the [Quintessential HDB resident]. 

Or maybe someone has simply told you to GET (8D) lost, and you’ve decided to take the advice literally.

In any case, you’re in luck—this week’s puzzle offers at least three ways to disappear.

Option one: Catch a flight. Before departure, your first stop would likely be CHANGI AIRPORT (28A), a tourist destination in its own right. As at 2026, the iconic aviation hub is regarded as the world’s most awarded airport, with 722 Best Airport accolades to its name.

Among its many attractions is the 40m-tall Rain Vortex at the heart of Jewel. The world’s tallest indoor waterfall sends water cascading through an opening in the building’s glass roof at a peak velocity of over 30,000 litres per minute.

With Japan consistently ranking among Singaporeans’ favourite travel destinations, ANA (24D)—[Japan’s largest airline] and short for All Nippon Airways—would not be an unlikely carrier of choice for a getaway trip. 

The Land of the Rising Sun is often considered a foodie’s paradise, especially for those with adventurous tastes. If you’re hardly fazed by HAWAIIAN PIZZA (17A), the [Divisive dish with a tropical topping], how about a pizza buried beneath a mound of fresh coriander? 

In 2023, Pizza Hut Japan served up exactly that with a pizza flavour called “pakuchi sugite kusa”. Kusa means grass and is also an Internet slang term for laughter, so one could translate the name as “too much coriander, it’s like grass” or “too much coriander LOL”.

Coriander itself might be even more divisive than pineapple on pizza, but the novelty flavour turned out to be an unexpected hit. Pizza Hut brought it back in 2024 with a variant topped with twice as much coriander as the original, calling it “pakuchi sugite kusa koete mori”. That, of course, translates to something like “too much coriander, it’s beyond grass, it’s a forest (and it’s absolutely hilarious)”.

It is certainly an accurate name, unlike Hawaiian pizza which was invented not in Hawaii but in Canada in 1962. Greek-born restaurateur Sam Panopoulos was experimenting with adding canned pineapple to a pizza and reportedly named his creation after the brand printed on the can.

If you’re not up for a globe-trotting adventure, culinary or otherwise, here’s option two: Disappear into a MAZE (15D), which might take the form of a [Confusing arrangement of hedges, say]. You wouldn’t have to travel far from the aforementioned Rain Vortex, as Jewel offers two different opportunities to lose your bearings.

The first is its Hedge Maze, the largest of its kind in Singapore. Those who reach the watchtower at its centre are rewarded with a bird’s-eye view of the full layout, which may make its arrangement rather less confusing.

Jewel also has a mirror maze, which offers a different sort of disorientation as visitors encounter umpteen versions of themselves while trying to find the exit. Each entrant is issued a foam noodle to feel out the path without walking into too many mirrors. This is probably for the best, as one hasty misstep could easily lead to an ankle SPRAIN (10A), or the [Result of a bad roll?].

Finally, option three: Throw on some CAMO (16D) and disappear into the (cilantro?) forest. The [Print intended to go unnoticed] is commonly worn by hunters and soldiers carrying out jungle OPS (6D)—missions, that is, rather than surgical procedures.

In 2008, the Singapore Armed Forces updated the design of its combat uniforms with a new pixelised camo design. Its colours and pattern were developed specifically to conceal soldiers in vegetated environments, following studies, field trials and comparative testing. The tiny pixels form larger shapes when viewed from farther away, helping to break up the wearer’s outline at different distances.

Ironically, the same gear becomes rather conspicuous once removed from the environment it was designed for, as anyone who has ever caught sight of a jungle hat or field pack in the middle of a crowded shopping mall can attest. Singapore may often be described as an urban jungle, but camo print doesn’t quite work on metaphorical jungles, methinks.

Anyway, speaking of stand-outs, here are a few other clues from this week that caught our eye:

9A. The Pan-Island Expressway, or PIE, is the [Local route with a palatable name]. I’ve spent many a Grab ride overhearing the voice on the GPS instructing the driver to take the “pie ramp”, as though we were making a brief detour through a bakery.

19A. The Certificate of Entitlement or COE is the [Motorist’s pricey prerequisite] that makes Singapore the world’s most expensive place to own a car. COE prices have been on the rise of late, with the Category A premium meant for smaller, less powerful cars hitting an all-time high of $133,009 in the Sept 9 tender exercise. Alas, I won’t be taking the “pie ramp” in a vehicle of my own any time soon.

20A. COLD STORAGE would be the group known as [“The Fresh Food People”, formerly]. Established in Singapore in 1903, the company began by importing and refrigerating meat and other perishables before going on to help popularise self-service supermarket shopping here. Curiously, Australian supermarket chain Woolworths also bills itself as “The Fresh Food People”, having launched its campaign under that name in 1987.

21D. [Tiger, for one] refers here not to a big cat, but to the iconic local BEER that was launched in Singapore in 1932 by Malayan Breweries (later renamed Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore). Tiger Beer brewing operations here are expected to wind down by end-2027, ending a 96-year streak. At its launch, some 200 guests were offered as much beer as they desired; several who were not regular drinkers reportedly returned for second and third glasses. A roaring success, one might say.

23D. The [Kopitiam drink for non-kopi drinkers] is, of course, TEH. Though one could argue that teh and kopi are equally iconic local brews, “tehtiam” somehow doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

Book recommendations

Let the week’s clues inspire your next read, courtesy of NLB. Follow the links to borrow.

26A. “The skyline was BROKEN here and there by the shapes of the barns and farmhouses some way over the fields, but otherwise, I appeared to have left behind all signs of community.” — The Remains Of The Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

27A. “I have always had more dread of a PEN, a bottle of ink, and a sheet of paper than of a sword or pistol.” — The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

15D. “I see now that the path I choose through the MAZE makes me what I am. I am not only a thing, but also a way of being—one of many ways—and knowing the paths I have followed and the ones left to take will help me understand what I am becoming.” — Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Across

1. Prominent politician partial to pink (3,5,5): LEE HSIEN LOONG

9. Local route with a palatable name (3): PIE

10. Result of a bad roll? (6): SPRAIN

11. Fixed in advance (6): PRESET

14. Young couple’s first flat, perhaps (7,4): STARTER HOME

16. ___ invite (scheduling request) (3): CAL

17. Divisive dish with a tropical topping (8,5): HAWAIIAN PIZZA

19. Motorist’s pricey prerequisite (3): COE

20. “The Fresh Food People”, formerly (4,7): COLD STORAGE

22. Judgmental gazes (6): STARES

26. Busted (6): BROKEN

27. It’s mightier than the sword, they say (3): PEN

28. Location of the world’s tallest indoor waterfall (6,7): CHANGI AIRPORT

Down

2. Singapore ____ (supersize convention venue) (4): EXPO

3. Quintessential HDB resident (11): HEARTLANDER

4. Actor McKellen, or author Fleming (3): IAN

5. Annual occasion for fireworks (3): NDP

6. Missions or surgical procedures, briefly (3): OPS

7. Where teachers are taught, initially (3): NIE

8. “___ lost!” (3): GET

12. C, M, I or O, e.g. (6,5): ETHNIC GROUP

13. Hand sanitiser ingredient (7): ETHANOL

14. Woodcutting tool (3): SAW

15. Confusing arrangement of hedges, say (4): MAZE

16. Print intended to go unnoticed (4): CAMO

18. Tay or Saldana, on screen (3): ZOE

21. Tiger, for one (4): BEER

22. Local fuel stop, in short (3): SPC

23. Kopitiam drink for non-kopi drinkers (3): TEH

24. Japan’s largest airline (3): ANA

25. ___ Mariamman Temple (3): SRI

26. Weight-to-height ratio, for short (3): BMI

If you have any feedback, feel free to write to us at stgames@sph.com.sg. See you next week!